Rotary hoeing-machine.



G. KD'NIG. v ROTARY BOEING MACHINE. APPLICATION EILED JUNE 7, 1909.

Patented Jan. 31, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET'I.

THE NORRIS PETERS 50., \usmlynmu, nc.

G. KUNIG. ROTARY BOEING MACHINE.

I 4 I APPLICATION FILED JUNF Z IQOQ. 983,242.

2 SHEET SSHBET 2.

mm NORRIS PETERS 50., wnsumswzv, n. c.

Patented Jan. 31, 1911.

@NFEE GOTTLIEB KijNIG, OF SEEBACH, NEAR ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, ASSIGNOR T0AKTIEN- GESELLSCHAFT ST. GEORGEN, OF ZURICH, SWITZERLAND.

ROTARY HOEING-MACI-IINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 7, 1909.

Patented Jan. 31, 1911.

Serial No. 500,513.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Go'rrLrnn Koran}, a citizen of the Republic ofSwitzerland, residing at Seebach, near Zurich, in the Canton of Zurich,Republic of Switzerlanchhave.

invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary Hoeing-hIachines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, referencebeing had tothe accompanying drawings, and to letters of referencemarked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to hoeing machines of the type in which the hoesare mounted on a rotatable support, driven by any suitable power, suchas a motor vehicle.

One of the objects of the invention is to so mount the hoes with respectto the rotating support that several series of hoes are provided, eachseries containing a selected number of hoes, and each hoe of each seriesbeing mounted on a pivoted spring-controlled hoe stick, the hoe itselfbeing pivotally supported on the free end of the stick in such a manneras to be resiliently mounted and capable of striking the earth, underthe combined action of impulse and gravity, and out through the earthalong an independent curve not prescribed by the machine.

A further object of the invention is to provide mechanism partlycontrolling the operation of the hoe stick and hoes, whereby themovement thereof is timed and controlled with respect to the energy withwhich they deliver the blow and with spect to the position at which theystrike the earth during operation.

Other objects reside in the general con struction and arrangement ofparts, and while the invention. is not restricted to the exact detailsshown and described, still. for the purpose of disclosure reference ishad to the accompanying drawings and the following descriptionillustrating a practical embodiment of the same, and the particularfeatures of novelty will be pointed out more succinctly in the claims.

- vehicle.

In the drawings like characters designate the same parts in the severalviews, of which Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of my improvedrotary hoeing machine, the wheel to the left of said View representingthe rear wheels of any suitable motor or other driven Fig. 2 is a planview of the machine, parts being broken away and parts being omitted forthe sake of clearness. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary View in elevation,looking peripherally at the machine, parts being omitted for clearness,and parts being shown in section to illustrate the application of alocking attachment mounted on the axis of the machine. Fig. l is afragmentary view in side elevation showing the connection of a hoe withits hoe stick, the normal position being shown in full lines and theposition of the hoe being shown in dotted lines when it ascribes a curveindependent of the machine while cutting through the earth. Fig. 5 is aplan View of Fig. 4:. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of one type of doublehoe, the left-hand side of the figure showing the position of the hoewith reference to the double cut made in the earth, and the right-handside of the figure showing the position of the hoe after it has made itscut and is dragged or scraped a limited distance in the furrow. Fig. 7is a diagrammatic view illustrating a mode of grouping the hoes, somebeing shown on shorter hoe sticks than others. Figs. 8 and 8 showanother form of hoe in the cutting and dragging positions, while Fig. 8is a cross section through the shank of the hoe blade and the sod,showing the position of the T-shaped hoes with reference to the sod.Fig. 9 is a view in side elevation with a still further modified form ofdouble bladed hoe. Fig. 10 is a view in side elevation of anothermodified construction of mounting the hoe blade, and. Fig. 11 is adiagrammatic fragmentary view in plan showing details of 'the hoecatching or looking attachment described with reference to Fig. 3

11 designate supporting beams suitably mounted at the rear of a vehicle,preferably selfpropelled, the beams preferably being mounted so as toadjust their position vertically with relation to the ground. Supportedby these beams 1 is a rotatable shaft or axle 2 provided with disks 3forming heads of a tool drum, which drum is driven from the vehicle byany suitable mechanism, illustrated in Fig. 1 as comprising a sprocketchain or belt 3" cooperating with the drum and the rear axle of thevehicle. Journaled in the disks or heads 3 are a plurality oftransversely disposed shafts & arranged adjacent the periphery of theheads and capable of oscillatory motion independent of their rotarymovement around the axis 2. On these shafts 4 are independently mounteda plurality of hoe sticks 5 in such manner that they are resilientlysupported thereon, providing a limited free pivotal movement on theshafts 4 independent of the oscillatory movement of the shaft, and alsoproviding a limited longitudinal and lateral movement on the shafts. Thelateral movement is accomplished by providing the shafts 4 with therecesses or slots et Fig. 3 adapted to receive the base horizontal web 5of the hoe sticks it being preferable that the hoe sticks be of T-shapcdform.

Independent pivotal movement of the hoe sticks against resilient orspring tension is attained by providing the spring member 6, shown inplan in Fig. 2, but more clearly in dotted lines in Fig. 1, whichsprings are provided with a hooked end engaging a pin 7 carried by theinner end of the hoe stick, which spring member is then bent around, asat 6, to snugly fit the squared shafts at, and thence being suitablybent to give it proper tension, and engaging at its other end a stirrupmember 8 which may 0061)- erate with notches formed in the sticksengaged by a cross pin 8*, the movement of the cross pin to engagedifferent notches regulating the tension of the springs. The adjustmentof the hoe stick with regard to length may be attained by inserting theattaching pin 7 in any one of the series of holes 6 in the hoe sticks.

In order to permit the hoes to follow a curve through the earthindependent of their circular swing with reference to the rotarysupport, as heretofore mentioned, each hoe body 10 is pivotally mountedon the outer end of its hoe stick in such manner that it may turn oneither one of two fulcrums against a force tending to hold same againstboth fulcrums or pivots.

In the particular construction illustrated the hoe sticks 5, at theirouter ends, are'provided with a. bifurcated member 5 the sticks beingprovided with ends projecting a short distance within said bifurcatedmembers and having a vertical series of transverse slots 5, and thebifurcated members, at their outer ends, being provided with the upperand lower transverse con necting pivots i) and 9 forming with the sidesof said bifurcated members open links.

The hoe body 10 is provided centrally on its forward edge with an upperand a lower recess 10 and 10 spaced a distance apart equal to thedistance between the pivots 9, 9, and these hoe bodies are provided withdetachable blades or hoes proper 10 Any suitable means may be employedfor normally holding the hoe body up against its fulcrum, providing thatsaid means allows the hoe body to turn on either one or the other of itsfulcrums against a retarding or resilient force. In the drawings thishas simply been illustrated by a fiat compression spring 11 ofsubstantially S-shape construction, having its forward end projectinginto a recess 10 formed on the rear edge of the hoe bodies between therecesses 10 and 10 and the other end of the spring projecting in one ofthe slots 5 of the hoe sticks. The degree of tension of this spring maybe regulated by the adjustment of this end in the slots 5 Referring nowparticularly to Figs. 1 and 2 and to the means previously mentioned,cooperating with and partly controlling the movement and throw of thehoe sticks, 12 designates a curved guide which. may be adjustably fixedto one of the beams 1, or other rigid support, by any suitable means,designated in Fig. 1 by bolts and slots 12 This curved guide is concaveon its forward face but slightly bends rearwardly at its upper ordischarge end. 13 designates a second curved guide rigidly butadjustably fixed to the beam as by means of slots and bolts 13, the camface of this guide mem her being of convex curvature and of a sharpercurve than the adjacent concave cam face of the member 12, forming adiverging opening at the entrance end of these members. 14: designates athird curved guide oppositely disposed to 13 and hinged as at 14. Thiscurved guide also has a convex cam surface, and the guides 13 and 14form a substantially elliptical separable member, a coiled spring 15being disposed between the rigid cam member 13 and the hinged cam member14 tending to draw the free end of the latter toward the free end of therigid cam or curved guide 13. 16 designates a belt or other suitablemeans cooperating with the swinging end of the curved guide 1% fordistending the latter, and also connected to a spring band cooperatingwith the shaft 2 hereinafter referred to. 17 are short crank arms orlevers connected at one end with the shafts 4, and therefore rotatablewith the drum, and at their other ends provided with an antifrictionroller 4? cooperating with the cam surfaces of the curved guides iustreferred to.

Briefly referring to the operation of the machine with reference to thecontrolling means or curved guides, it will be observed that as eachseries of hoes leaves the ground the antii'riction roller 4 of thatseries will have engaged the concave cam face of the guide 12, and willhold the hoe sticks in sub stantially the position shown at the lowerright-hand corner of Fig. 1 until the antifriction roller will strikethe convex surface of the cam 13, when the hoe sticks will be graduallyelevated to a substantially horizontal position, as shown at the upperright-hand corner of Fig. l, and in view of the fact that the connectionbetween each individual hoe stick and its assembling shaft 4, is throughthe medium of the spring 6, these springs will tend to absorb shock asthe antifriction roller initially strikes the cam member 12. Furthercontinued movement from the position shown at the upper right-handcorner of Fig. 1 will cause the hoe to approach a vertical position asit passes around the convex surface of the member 14, and atsubstantially the position shown at the left-hand upper corner of Fig. 1the roller of that series moving downwardly on a forwardly curvingsurface will cause a positive forward thrust or impulse to the hoesticks which combining with the action of gravity causes the hoe tostrike the earth with proper force, and the fact that each hoe iscapable of a movement independentof the hoe sticks will allow adeviation in the curve or out through the earth of any one hoe withreference to any one or more hoes in that particular series, thusallowing each hoe to operate independently of the other in the avoidanceof hard substances, and not only this but each hoe stick has a limitedlongitudinal. and a lateral play with reference to the assembling shaft4. tending to further prevent shock against the other parts of theseries should one hoe strike a rock or other hard substance. it will beobvious also that by operating the belt 16 forwardly to move the curvedguide forwardly the degree of positive force or impulse imparted to theseries of hoes at a time at which the hoes start to independentlygravitate may be altered. Also it will be observed that various changesmay be caused by adjustment of the several cam members by means of theslot and bolt connections.

In order to prevent an overthrow of the series of hoes stops as may beprovided on the disks in the path of the short arm 17, and in case ofoverthrow these short arms will engage the stops.

It will also be observed that where the machine is running slowly thecam face of the curved guide 1.3 will prevent a hanging back of the hoemembers by the roller 4;" en gaging said surface, while when the machineis running rapidly the cam face of the guide 12 will prevent the hoesfrom being swung (nitwardly by centrifugal force, and similarly when themachine is running slowly the curved guide 14; coiiperating with theroller 1 will prevent the series of hoes from falling downwardly bygravity.

.lteferring to the hoe catching or looking attachment shown in Figs. 2and 8, it is desirable at times to hold the hoes out of opcrativoposition with relation to the earth, and in cases of emergency and wherethe rotary hoeing machine is geared up to a vehicle it is desirable thatthis should be done without stopping the drum, as the inaction of thehoes may be only momentarily, such for instance as in crossing a road orother part of the ground not to be dug up. One means of accomplishingthese ends is shown in these figures, wherein 18 designates ascrew-threaded member contained within the beam 1, which in Fig. isshown as channeled, the screw-threaded member being bored to receive theend of the shaft 2. On the screw-threaded member is threaded a sleeve 19having its inner projecting end provided with an inturned flange orprojection 20 coiiperating with a grooved member 21 coiniected by meansof cross rods 22 with radial arms 23 .erniiiniting in spring pawls 2 1adapted to be thrown into and out of looking engagement with lockingprojections 20 carried by the oscillating shafts at, and where thesearms 23 are located within the drum, as shown in Fig. 3, a journal 23provided for surrounding the shaft 2. It is obvious, however, that thearms 23 and the locking arms 26 may be located in any position withrelation to the drum, whether inside or outside. It will be observedthat the nut 19 ro tates on the screw 18 in one direction to draw thecross arms 23 toward the left in Fig. 3 to bring the spring pawls 2%:into operative relation with the locking lugs 26, and in the oppositedirection to throw said. pawls out of locking engagement. with saidlugs. Normally these pawls are held in locking engagement with the lugsby the action of a spring tending to turn the nut 19 in the properdirection to hold said pawls in their innermost position. In Fig. 3, andin Fig. 1 in dotted lines, this spring is represented as a coiled.resilient band 27 around the nut 19, secured at its free end to the beltor cable 16. A pull on the belt 16, therefore, will, turn the nut 19against the action of its spring, throwing the locking pawls 94 out ofengagement with the lugs 96, and this the normal working position of themachine, as the outward pull on the belt 16 also swings the cam orcurved guide 14 into its outer position for giving proper impulse to thehoes through the lever 17. It will be seen, therefore, that where arough place is met or other ground not to be cut up a release on thebelt 16 will throw the pawls into operative position, and as the hoesrotate the lugs 26 come into engagement with the pawls 24 and the seriesof hoes are held 1n such a drawn back position that when -passing intheir lowermost positions they are disposed a little above the ground.

In Fig. 6 there is illustrated a hoe of a special type, operating,however in the same manner heretofore described, but, includ- 10 ing asan additional element an auxiliary hoe 29 disposed forward of and abovethe main hoe 30, the upper hoe 29 being preferably resilient in additionto the resilient connection with the hoe stick, and the upper Thoe beingprovided with an inwardly disposed projection limiting its cut. From thetwo views in Fig. 6 it will be observed that the lower hoes of oneseries engage the row made by the upper hoes of the preced z'oiingseries, the cut of the lower hoes being of greater depth than the upperhoes, and in consequence the clods cut by the lower hoes, as the hoesare dragged rearwardly, scrape over and cover the sodded portion of the25 upper cut, thus burying the grass or weeds,

as clearly shown in the drawings.

Another method of burying the sodded portion of the clods is shown inFigs. 8, S" and 8 wherein a type of hoe is represented 3O by the shank mhaving a forwardly extend ing web 3 terminating in a substantiallyvertical web 3 forming a hoe of T-shape construction. The operation isobvious from the drawings. The hoes make a plurality of substantial cutsthroughout the full depth of the stroke, and upon continued motion ofthe drum the lower end of the hoes are dragged away from the cut andfinally upwardly, turning the sod 2 over, as

indicated by the arrow in Fig. 8, whereupon the grass or sodded end isdisposed downwardly.

In Fig. 9 there is shown another modified form of the double acting hoeshown in Fig. 6, the construction of which is obvious from the drawings,the principal difference being that a rod 32 reciprocatingly mounted inguides or abutments 34 and 36 engages a recess corresponding to therecess 10 of Fig.

4 and holds the hoe body up against the pivots 9, 9, by virtue of thecoiled spring 33 abutting against and secured to the abutment 34 at oneend and at its other end engaging, between its coils a disk 32 on therod 32, it being understood that the tension 68 wardly, and forms aresilient abutment limiting its backward movement, corresponding ineffect to the spring 11 of Fig. 4 wherein backward movement of the hoebody is limited, as shown in dotted lines, by the body of the hoestriking the loop of the flat spring, whether the hoe be swung in aforward or a backward direction. In this modification there is a furtherdistinguishing feature in that the upper hoe with its inward projection25 is adjustable by means of bolts and slots 28 to its resilient support38, which latter is adjustably mounted on the hoe body, as indicated at38*. In this construction, as in others, a weight 37 may be added, tovary the weight of the hoes. Also the main or rear hoe is adjustablymounted by means of a sleeve or casing 39 formed integrally with the hoe30 and en-v circling the hoe body and adjustably secured thereto as by apin and apertures, indicated at 40.

Fig. 10 shows another simple form of hoe head in which the hoe 42 iscapable of forward and rearward tilt, independent of the hoe stick. Thehoe 42 is held up against the ring-shaped bed 41 of the cap-shapedhandle 45 by means of a threaded spindle 49 pivotally connected to thetop of the hoe, and provided with a nut 44, and a coiled spring 43disposed between said nut and the top of the cap-shaped handle 45. 4G isa spring interposed between the top of the cap-shaped handle 45 and adisk 47 on the spindle 49, said disk being located within the spring 43and the spring 46, adapted to form a flexible means for controlling theresilient swing of the hoe blade 42 in either direction, andcorresponding in function to the springs 11 and 35 of Figs. 4 and 9.

Having thus described the invention, and the advantages of the variousconstructions being apparent from the drawings and the precedingdescription, what I claim is 1. In a hoeing machine, the combination ofa vehicle, a rotary support carried thereby, means for driving saidrotary support, a plurality of hoe sticks pivotally mounted on saidrotary support and capable of independent longitudinal play withrelation to their axis and also capable of independent swing relative totheir axis, a spring controlling said independent swing, and hoescarried by the free end of said sticks. substantially as described.

2. In a hoeing machine, the combination of a vehicle, a rotary supportcarried thereby and means for rotating said support, a shaft mounted tooscillate in said support, a plurality of hoe sticks connected at oneend to said shaft, said hoe sticks being capable of independentlongitudinal movement and independent swing relative to said shaft,spring means for controlling said independent swing, and hoes carried atthe free ends of said sticks, substantially as described.

3. In a hoeing machine, the combination of a vehicle, a rotary supportcarried thereby, means for driving said rotary support, an oscillatingshaft journaled in said rotary support, hoe sticks connected at one end.to said shaft and capable of independent lateral movement, longitudinalmovement and swinging movement relative to said shaft, tension meanscontrolling said limited swinging IllOVQlHGllt, and hoes carried by thefree ends of said sticks, substantially as described.

4. In a hoeing machine, the combination of a vehicle, a rotary supportjournaled thereon, means for driving said rotary support, an oscillatingshaft journaled in said support, hoe sticks having one end resting onsaid shaft, a spring for each of said hoe sticks, engaging said shaftand secured at one end to said hoe stick at one side of said shaft andat its other end engaging said hoe stick on the opposite side of saidshaft, whereby said hoe sticks are secured to said shaft and capable oflimited independent swing and longitudinal movement relative thereto andhoes carried at the free end of said sticks, substantially as described.

5. In a hoeing machine, the combination of a vehicle, a rotary supportcarried there by, means driving said rotary support, a plurality of hoesticks pivotally connected to said rotary support, and hoes fulcrumed tothe free end of said hoe sticks to swing forwardly and rearwardly, andresilient means normally holding said hoes rigidly against theirfulcrum, substantially as described.

6. In hoeing apparatus, the combination of a hoe stick, a pair oftransverse pivot pins at one end thereof, a hoe provided on its frontedge with recesses engaging said pins, and resilient means engaging therear edge of said hoe for normally holding said hoe against its pivotsbut allowing same to swing, under spring tension, on either of saidpivots a limited distance, substantially as described.

7. In a hoeing machine, the combination of a vehicle, a rotary supportcarried thereby, means for driving said rotary support, hoe sticksresiliently pivoted to said rotary support and free to swing a limiteddistance 011 said support and capable of independent longitudinalmovement on said support, and hoes mounted at the free end of saidsticks, said hoes fulcrumed to swing in opposite directions, andresilient means normally holding said hoes against said fulcrums in aplane substantially at right angles to said sticks, substantially asdescribed.

8. In a hoeing machine, the combination of a vehicle, a rotary supportcarried thereby, means for rotating said support, nonrotatable cammembers adjacent said rotary support, oscillating shafts carried by saidrotary support, levers connected to said shafts and at their free endsadapted to engage said cams to rotate said oscillating shafts during thelatters rotation around the axis of said rotary support, hoe sticksresiliently mounted on said oscillating shafts, and hoes resilientlymounted on the ends of said hoe sticks, substantially as described.

9. In a hoeing machine, the combination of a vehicle, a rotary supportcarried thereby, oscillating shafts journaled in said support, hoesticks resiliently connected to said shafts, hoes resiliently mounted atthe free ends of said hoe sticks, locking lugs on said oscillatingshafts, levers connected to said oscillating shafts, cam members engagedby the free end of said levers to swing said oscillating shafts and hoesticks independently of said support, and means adapted to be throwninto and out of ongagement with said locking lugs for allowing said hoesticks to swing independently of said support or to be locked relativelythereto, substantially as described.

10. In hoeing apparatus, the combination of a vehicle, a rotary supportcarried thereby, hoe sticks pivotally connected to said support, andhoes pivotally mounted on the free ends of the hoe sticks, each of saidhoes consisting of double blades, one of said blades being placedforwardly of the other in alinement therewith and elevated rela tivelythereto, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

GOTTLIEB KONIG.

WVitnesses I-IERMANN HUBER, CARL HUBLEI.

